In industry today, production, manufacturing, and distribution facilities for any business utilize automated services to quickly and efficiently handle bulk materials. These bulk materials may include anything from products sold by a company to bulk mail sent and received by businesses and other organizations. In the case of bulk mail, many businesses and organizations specializing in mail delivery have bulk mail facilities, which process and sort mail according to certain user defined criteria (e.g., recipient's name, ZIP code, street address, etc.). These facilities can exist for any type of business. The purpose of having a facility designed for processing materials in bulk is to improve the entire assembly line process of getting materials to and from the business or organization efficiently so that the consumer may realize a cost savings or receive a higher quality product or service. Handling materials in bulk is more efficient and cost effective than handling materials individually, and businesses and other organizations constantly seek to improve the steps in existing methods and systems to make the entire process more efficient and cost-effective.
One step in processing bulk materials, for example, is the initial step of receiving the incoming materials at the bulk material processing facility. Current methods of transporting bulk materials, for example unloading the contents of a truck onto a loading dock, may be slow and require too much human exertion to be cost effective and efficient. Furthermore, increased human intervention, even in automated processes, in handling bulk materials increases the risk of harm to employees or workers of the bulk material processing facility. Current methods of automated transporting of bulk materials are not user friendly, may cause delays in the entire production, manufacturing, or distribution process, and may have a high risk of harm to workers when manual attention is needed.
It is therefore desirable to provide systems and methods to allow for the safe, efficient, cost effective, and automated transportation of bulk materials to the facilities engaged in processing those bulk materials.